Writer / Editor / Creative

Hatch Fenway continues its amazing run of bringing startup talent to the neighborhood by welcoming Appcues into their coworking hub in the Landmark Center. Appcues is an innovative software service that helps software companies create personalized user experiences without needing help from developers.

“Everybody wants to have a highly engaged user base, whether it’s on mobile or desktop,” says Jonathan Kim, co-founder of Appcues. “They [developers] want everyone who signs up to fall in love with their product and use it forever.”

The reality of current app engagement is not quite so rosy. According to Jonathan, even popular social media apps like Twitter and Facebook see a dramatic decline in user engagement after the first 90 days.

“The fact that even they can’t retain more than 30% of their user base after 90 days is just daunting for everybody else,” Jonathan says. “Our goal is to help people have an awesome first-run experience, as the data shows that engagement trickles down over time—the better your first experience is, the more likely you are to stick with it.”

Appcues offers developers a software toolkit that focuses on customizable “onboarding”—the creation of a stimulating first impression through beautifully designed welcome pages, tutorials, tips and more that introduce the user to the world of the app and build “an ecosystem that helps [the user] fall in love with a product over time.”

“We like to look at [onboarding] as everything it takes in order to take a brand new person, a newbie, and turn them into a master,” Jonathan says.

Editor’s Note: This interview is part of a branded-content series for TheFenway.com, an arts & entertainment site that generates commercial/residential interest in The Fenway neighborhood of Boston.

Douglas Wright is a freelance writer/editor & creative producer based in Brooklyn, NY with a focus on speechwriting, advertising, branded content, internal marketing campaigns, film & television, arts, travel, and general news.

He is a former small-town New England reporter who has worked in the NYC media industry for the past decade as a speechwriter, creative director, travel editor for Condé Nast, and founder/fiction editor for the literary arts magazine Exit Strata.

His articles have been featured in Budget Travel, NewYork.com, Popular Science, All About Jazz, MSNBC, CNN, AOL Travel, Lakes Region Weekly, American Journal, and Concierge.com (the online companion of Conde Nast Traveler) among others.